Wire snare poaching is decimating wildlife in Zimbabwe's National Parks. Animals that escape snares drag them through the bush; wire slowly cuts through flesh, causing septic wounds and slow death. Rangers cannot locate these injured animals in dense mopane woodland where visibility is limited and traditional visual surveys are ineffective. Current thermal drone methods detect the animal itself requiring line-of-sight or open terrain. In dense bush, this fails.

This project responds to that challenge with a novel conservation technology approach: using thermal imaging to detect the heat signature of snare injuries, not just the animal itself. On March 10, 2026, Monash University researchers published groundbreaking findings in Marine Pollution Bulletin: thermal drones can detect entangled Cape fur seals by the inflammatory heat signature of their wounds, achieving 81% detection rates from 50+ meters altitude. Wounded tissue emits a distinct thermal pattern visible even when the animal itself is obscured. This project will test that idea in a real conservation setting in Zimbabwe, where the need is urgent and the operational context is difficult.